Obama using parts of Deval Patrick's campaign

BOSTON (AP) — Barack Obama told a New Hampshire audience he was borrowing a line from friend Deval Patrick, urging people to "vote your aspirations." He joked that Patrick "stole a whole bunch of lines from me" during his gubernatorial campaign.

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Posted Jan. 13, 2008 at 11:00 AM

Posted Jan. 13, 2008 at 11:00 AM

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BOSTON (AP) — Barack Obama told a New Hampshire audience he was borrowing a line from friend Deval Patrick, urging people to "vote your aspirations." He joked that Patrick "stole a whole bunch of lines from me" during his gubernatorial campaign.

Their campaign playbooks have simple yet striking similarities: Tell a compelling story about yourself and inspire people who feel left out to take back their government. Stay on a message of hope and unity.

Wherever the rhetoric originates, their supporters say, is less important than the results. Patrick made history becoming the state's first black governor. Obama is trying to emulate that success as he seeks the Democratic nomination for president, and his finish in early races shows the message is resonating for some.

"It works, tremendously well," said John Walsh, Patrick's campaign manager. "Both Barack Obama and Deval Patrick would say that it's really a significant oversimplification to say it's a message of hope, because I think it's a lot more than that."

Both men are black, with Chicago roots, Harvard educated, and skilled at bringing together diverse coalitions of supporters, using their personal histories as backdrops to persuade voters to join — in their word a "movement," while competitors run "campaigns."

Obama, a freshman U.S. senator from Illinois, is the son of a Kenyan man and white American woman. He was elected the first black president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, gave a memorable speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and has two best-selling books on his resume. His campaign theme: Yes We Can.

Patrick left poverty in Chicago at age 14 to attend an elite prep school in Massachusetts. He went on to Harvard, and served in the Clinton administration as a civil rights lawyer. He defeated entrenched Democrats for the gubernatorial nomination and trounced his Republican challenger — Republican former Gov. Mitt Romney's lieutenant — to become the first Democratic governor in 16 years. His campaign theme: Together We Can.

Patrick insists there's no "playbook."

"We believe similar things. We believe in a robust participatory democracy. We believe in grassroots campaigning and grassroots governing. We believe that people get the government they deserve," he said.

The governor, who plans to campaign for Obama in South Carolina, said he and Obama are "hungry for a change, a much more engaged citizenship. We both believe those things, and I think that's why sometimes ... the things we say are similar."

And sometimes identical.

Patrick, in the days before his election, railed against Republican challenger Kerry Healey's inference that Patrick lacked experience and substance, but could give a good speech.

"'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' Just words," Patrick said then, firing up the crowd about the power of words and messages. "'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Just words ... 'I have a dream.' Just words."

Obama, in an interview with The New Republic published in March, said "words are pretty powerful. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal.' Those are just words. 'I have a dream.' Just words. But they help move things. And I think it was partly that understanding that probably led me to try to do something similar in different arenas."

Obama strategist David Axelrod, who helped Obama win his U.S. Senate seat in 2004, was a media consultant for Patrick's 2006 campaign.

Steve Grossman, past chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Axelrod was "quite prescient" in recognizing voter frustration with the status quo, and crafting messages about change.

"But I wouldn't want to give all the credit to David Axelrod," said Grossman, who has raised money for Hillary Clinton. "These are both men with vision. Both Gov. Patrick and Sen. Obama are masterful at crafting an aspirational vision for the future of the state or the country that people from every demographic group you can think of have responded to."

Axelrod did not return calls to comment, but told The New York Times magazine in April that the model for the Obama presidential run was the Patrick campaign. He said he attended Patrick's inauguration last January and thought about Obama and "how amazing would it be to be not at the Massachusetts Statehouse but at the U.S. Capitol for that."

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential rival John Edwards, has suggested Obama's signature theme was in fact lifted from her husband's 2004 presidential campaign — and noted Axelrod worked for Edwards that year.

"You listen to the language of what people say, particularly Obama, who seems to be using a lot of John's 2004 language," Edwards said in the August issue of The Progressive magazine.

Patrick calls Axelrod "quite creative," but said he and Obama are responsible for their messages.

"What appeals to both me and Sen. Obama about David Axelrod is that he didn't attempt to invent us," the governor said. "He heard a message that came from our core, and he tried to help get that out. He's marvelously respectful and I think quite creative in that respect."

Walsh, Patrick's campaign manager, said it was a coincidence that "Yes We Can" was the original Patrick theme. Patrick supporters chanted it at the Democratic convention in 2005, but after reporters said it was identical to Obama's slogan, they changed it to "Together We Can."

Walsh said Axelrod wasn't involved with Patrick's campaign until 2006.

In fact, when challenged in 2005 about whether they were ripping off Obama, Walsh compiled two pages of "Yes We Can" quotes attributed to sources as far ranging as labor leader Cesar Chavez to children's television show Bob The Builder, in which the characters, when asked if they can build something, respond in unison "Yes We Can!"

"'Yes We Can' is not a brilliantly unique and new combination of a couple of words," he said.